BLAUTR
lýsingarorð
adj. [A. S. bleât = miser; Germ. blozs = nudus; Scot. blait = nudus (Jamieson); Dan. blöd; Swed. blödig = soft; the Dan. and Swed. blott, blotted, = stripped, are borrowed from Germ.; Ivar Aasen distinguishes between blaú = shy, and blaut = wet, damp; blauðr and blautr are no doubt only variations of the same word].
I. soft, Lat. mollis, in a good sense; this sense of the word remains only in a few compds, v. above, and in a few phrases, e. g. frá blautu barns beini, from babyhood, Fms. iii. 155, Magn. 522, Al. 71; b. fiskr, fresh (soft) fish, Bs. i. 853, opp. to harðr (dried) fiskr; in Swed., however, it means soaked fish: in poetry, b. sæing, a soft bed, Gísl. (in a verse): of stuffs, but only in less classical writers or translated romances; b. purpuri, Bret. 32; lerépt, Sks. 400 A; dúnn, Mart. 126; blautir vindar, soft breezes, Sks. 214 B: a single exception is, Edda 19, fjöturinn var sléttr ok b. sem silkiræma, soft and smooth as silk lace.
2. = blauðr, faint, imbecile; blautir menn, Al. 34, Fas. i. 161: a paraphrasis of blauðr in Fm. 6.
II. but commonly metaph. = soaked, wet, miry, [cp. Swed. blöt, and the phrase, lägga sit hufuud í blöt, to beat one’s brains: cp. also bleyta, mud; bloti, thaw; blotna, to melt]; þar vóru vellir blautir, því at regn höfðu verit, Eg. 528; keldur blautar, 266; þeir fengu ekki blautt um Valbjarnar-völlu, Bs. i. 509, etc.; cp. Scot. and North. E. soft road, soft weather, = wet, Scott’s Black Dwarf, ch. 3 note.